It is itself a surprise to me that we are responding to the issue of the alleged Nigerian suicide bomber/terrorist as if it was totally unpredictable. We want to condemn it, we are disappointed by what Umar is alleged to have done and the added shame and disrepute that has brought upon Nigeria, but it would be wrong to suggest that there are no fundamentalist strains in Nigeria. They abound.
The recent Boko Haram incident, and the way muslims in Northern Nigeria reacted to the 2005 Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) by setting churches on fire suggest that we must have been breeding this kind of people, and we are probably more capable of breeding them with possibly little outside influence than we presently imagine.
A series of troubling but interesting events happened in close succession, within the space of two years, when I was a student at Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) Ile-Ife. For those who are not very familiar with Nigeria, OAU is arguably the most Yoruba and also possibly the most politically active and intellectually progressive of Nigerian universities.
Obafemi Awolowo Hall (popularly called Awo Hall) is well known as the most politically active, hilarious, fun loving and liberal residential hall within the university. Awo Hall also has a long standing tradition, dating back about twenty years or more, of the free screening of pornography videos in the hall’s TV Room every Friday evening. There is incidentally a make shift mosque just across the lawn from the TV Room in what used to be the kitchen attached to a dinning cafe where students used to eat when the Nigerian government provided free food for university students. The tradition of Friday evening porn predates the existence of the make shift mosque, which according to the university was even an illegal creation in the first place. Suddenly one Friday evening the leaders of the Muslim group in the hall stormed into the TV room and seized the DVD player. The incident eventually degenerated into a free for all fight that resulted in a two-week university closure.
There was another occasion when a girl was beaten up for dressing “inappropriately” while visiting the hall (Awo is a male residential hall). The muslim brothers retreated into the mosque after the onslaught and they wouldn’t allow anyone who wasn’t a muslim to approach for questions and a demand of apopogy. They held sticks and other weapons, prepared to attack the uninvited. It was strange and scary. I had to step in, having been a rather good friend of the Awo Hall mosque as I had been spotted entring the mosque to take part in prayers, and having subsequently attracted a couple of the more senior members of the mosque who tried to convert me to Islam, albeit unsuccessfully. Thankfully, we were able to get them to apologise in the long run, an act that eventually that brought the mattter to rest.
A third one occured when a girl was married off to a fellow student by fellow students within one of Mosques in the university without the knowledge of either party’s parents. The girl subsequently decided to cut off all communication with her family. After several weeks of failed attempts at reaching her, the girl’s parents had to visit the university to confirm what had happened to their daughter. She had been transformed from a regular muslim lady to one that covers her face, she was already pregnant and she wasn’t going to see her parents when they eventually visited.
I once had a “friend,” a Nigerian who told me that he would kill me in the event of a holy war! He wasn’t joking.
Mild as these incidents were, what they show is that for these to happen in the liberal south, at the very bastion of southwestern Nigeria liberalism, you can imagine what possibly goes on in the north where some states already practice the Islamic Sharia legal system.
I don’t think that Umar did what he is alleged to have done simply because he is from a rich, privileged family or from northern Nigeria. He simply had good access to radicalising influences, or is it the other way round? There are thousands of Nigerians, I’m sure, who would go the same way if only they had the same kind of access Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had, and we should not be oblivious of this important fact as we discuss this unfortunate incident.
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SA, I was indeed surprised when i first heard the news on Sky News, but after i we got more info on his background, i understood better.I think he was radicalized outside the shores of Nigeria, quite possibly while he was a student in the UK, but that not withstanding, i agree with you on the point that there are a many like him in our country who would do the same if given the opportunity. Of course, his act has n’t done Nigeria’s reputation a favour and we’r all appalled by that.However, one thing i want you to consider is that faith is a very strong influence.These guyz just simply believe that what they’r doing is for a just cause!(I’m,in no way,condoning the act).They believe it is right. I just hope our dear Farouk have not set a dangerous precedent for his colleagues in Nigeria. It is a rather disturbing thought, but how will you feel when you hear in some few months’ time that someone have blown himself up, in a commercial centre in zaria, killing hundreds of innocent people?? May God help us.
I use to think a Nigerian can’t ever engage in suicide attack. I was converted during my stint in northern Nigeria as a youth corp member. there are thousands of ‘Umar’ in Nigeria, especially of the northern extraction, who are proud of his deeds as we speak. But the matter is not entirely a northern Nigeria affair, though its worse up there. In addition to the instances at OAU that you cited, my interactions with some ‘islamic fundamentalists’ in the fun loving Yoruba tribe of western Nigeria sent shivers down my spine. it all boils down to absolute intolerance of divergent views. Uniformity is the only language these elements understand, pathetically so. they find it hard to come to terms with the beauty in diversity. the passing year is replete with calamities foisted on innocent Nigerians by opposing islamic sects, Bauchi being the most recent abbatoir. I quite agree with Akinwale that in the not too distant future, some impressionable folks in the north might take a cue from this. One can only pray that such a day will never come. The dastardly act has further rubbished the unpopular rebranding campaign in Nigeria, as terrorism may be the next ‘Nigerian-defining complex’. God help us!
I must say am quite impressed at ur intellectual insights in the issue of abdulmutallib’s failed attacks but for Seye to have claimed we ought not be surprised leaves less to be desired. I must emphasize that we must, as Nigerians, be surprised at such action for it is very alien to our culture to carry our suicidal bombings. Its a known fact that its a crazy belief held by fundamentalists which i believe is irrespective of faith even though i must agree that those professing islam have been the latest culprits in recent times.
I do not believe that cos the almajiri folk and the illiterate youths in the north,a reflection of our failed system, being brainwashed by some misguided arabic school teachers with the backing of some selfish politicians to create an unstable polity, to believe in
violence at the slightest provocation, should be equated to a generalization of northern muslims as a violent bloc, which some of u guys seem to be implying.
U cannot underestimate the reaction a religious people would give to a situation such as the danish cartoon saga, when a misguided journalist decides to ridicule a symbol of peoples faith. This is why issues of religion are always treaded with caution, cos u may just not be
able to control the repercussions. If a man, a DJ was sacked for just joking that the Queen’s xmas speech was too boring this week in UK, then u can understand why people react in different manners to issues they see as sacred. I cannot support the misguided attacks on innocent people following the cartoon saga, but i must say that people should act responsibly within the boundaries of freedom and liberty given to them in order to avoid heating up the world polity unnecessarily. we know how the roman catholics dont take it lightly when the institution of the pope is criticized in any form, so its not the reaction to issues regarding islam or muslims that should be questioned, but the “overreaction” from the fundamentalists. Infact Seye wrote as though he didnt get the full details of this saga. Mutallibs father, attested to by the US embassy officials, had reported his son’s inclination to fundamentalism months before the attack,but they apparently took it lightly. why? Probably because even they didnt see any acts either in the past or present, despite our numerous sectarian violence, to link Nigerians to such behaviour! Also, is Mutallib the father not a northern muslim? Y report the son if he believed in his cause? The Boko haram guy was a sectionalist, and he was also killing muslims in his stride. I dont even believe you would relate this issue to such an individual whose murder in mysterious circumstances by the Nigerian police even pointed to a
much more political cause as reasons for his mad actions, the reason why he had to be silenced before he started mentioning names!
On the issue of Awo hall, i am equally surprised at Seye’s submission, because i never ever knew that awo’s policies on humliating indecently dressed girls were the actions of the muslim guys! Thats outrageous and overtly exaggerating! I also attended Ife and know that
apart from the normal political sagacity and steadfastnesss of awo boys, they love to humiliate in comic fashion, girls with indecent dressing! as evidenced by their actions at some graduation canopies where they publicly disgrace some indecently dressed girls and the last time i checked, Awo boys are a blended mix of muslims, xtians, paegans, lennists, stalins, socialists, machiavellianists etc. So i am not very pleased with that misinformation linking harassment of indecent dressing to the muslim guys, its a lie! I agree, though, in the spirit of truthfulness that these muslim guys displayed their grievances at the pornographic videos issue and the issue of beauty pagent on campus, which seye forgot to mention, clear cases of youthful exuberance amongst a group of muslims cos they even fell short of the expectations of the larger muslim community of lecturers and guardians whom have condemned some of the excessive actions. For the benefit of doubt,however, it should be stated that they never recorded such violence compared to less than half of the cases up north let alone a link to terrorism, the like of which muttallib displayed!
Despite the fact that these are extremes no doubt, i still dont see the direct link to the issues at hand, for even in the civilized world, people demonstrate publicly against some vices which they feel uncomfortable with!
Now, to the main issue of Umar farouk Abdulmuttalib. Please lets get the facts right. Nigerian fundamenalists usually work on a “cause and effect” scenario. They usually exaggerate their frustrations to an action e.g, a man caught cleaning his butt with the Quran after defeacating, the cartoon saga ridiculing the prophet muhammed (SAW), etc. and they probably are cowards who dont wanna die otherwise the stories during these riots would have been people strapping bombs on their bodies, entering a church, and blowing it up! This is not the fashion of terrorists, they arent scared of dying which was what farouk was about to do.
Secondly Farouk has always been an elite child, had formal education in the best of schools with a blend of the kids of the creme-de la-creme of the international society, probably so distant from the illiterate fundamentalists in his home state, then went to the UK for his higher education, and then masters in Dubai, and then delineated himself from his family, which
necessitated his father’s reporting him to the Nigerian state and US embassy, then the Yemeni connection etc. U dont need to look too far to see that this guy got himself hardened abroad! where i absolutely agree with Akinwale. Even at that, if i were to think like Seye,
then i can condemn the Yemenis too since they are the latest hideout for terrorists, but is the average Yemeni a terrorist? absolutely no! So i think what we should be talking about is how to prevent and avoid a repeat of such shame and national embarassment with a big lesson to Nigerians that send their kids abroad distancing them from the basic roots and expectations of their culture and tradition and most importantly, without monitoring their activities abroad all in a bid to give them a better overseas education when they have helped to either overtly or covertly destroy the education system locally at home.
All indicators, including the interrogations of muttallib in the US, point to having his terrorist tutoring in Yemen, or can we confidently say the Americans with all their sophistication couldnt have linked his actions to Nigeria? Of course, there probably isnt any link!I can only agree to close monitoring of the arabic classes tutors to ensure they are teaching the kids the proper tenets of the religion that abhor violence and most importantly suicide and
murder of innocents, which are grievous sins in islam, irrespective of their provocation.
On a lighter note… I would say the guy is a true Nigerian; most Nigerians don’t want to die. He probably was hesitating for too long as the ‘Nigerian’ in him was wrestling with the external (Al-qaeda) influences he’s had over time.
Wishing our dear nation newness in the new year.
Happy new year y’all!
On the question about being surprised or not, I’ll stick to the group in support of “surprised”. Don’t get me wrong. My reaction is not that of “whao what was that?” but that of “when did it come to that?”. As well pointed out by laolu and wale, his deeds were fostered by external influence from the people he mixed minds with in the course of his stay in the countries he temporarily resided. Castigating him for the daunting attitude is welcome but stopping at that is a severe case of a myopic view of the situation at hand. We are all aware of the fact that no one is born with genomic imprints that tilts the persona of such an individual persistently in the line of being malevolent. It is the final interplay of the home, the peer group and the society at large with some of the three exhibiting varying levels of expression. All these had roles to play in Farouk’s condemned act.
It’s true that extremism has being expressed at several occasions in this country but non amounted to a similitude of the alarming rate of suicidal killings as portrayed in the middle east. This makes Umar’s case uniquely surprising because this is the first time such will be exhibited by a nigerian. More shocking, as laolu pointed out, unlike most suicide bombers who are either destitutes, fanatics, illiterates or widows of veterans or extremists, this boy is educated and well exposed. So, we ask again; why did he decide to do it?
Religious faith is always a strong issue no matter the name it bears but one thing remains paramount; the sanctity of the human life is the evidence and bulwark of sincere worship (it takes being alive to believe and have faith). Once the regard for the life of the next individual is demoted to that of an animal in the name of preservation of so called spiritual tenets, then i believe it’ll only take a global annihilation of everything that breathes for me to accept the genuineness of such conduct (for there is none to be christened “blameless”).
A shame it is that this happened, a shackle to international recognition it will be if it is poorly tackled and a shield to oppose the corruption of the elite mind it will be if sustainable reorientation is tagged along the eradication of this detour from sanity.
sa,I quite agree that a lot of extreme islamism & fanatical indoctrination has become prevalent in Nigeria in recent times.I know better having attended a Federal University that is fast becoming a Islamic Institution & also serving in the north.I nonetheless maintain a position that is hard to shift. Farouk isnt a typical Nigerian. We dont blow ourselves up not even when when we are from a wealthy home and we know the gains of affluence. Boko Haram leader or even Osama Bin Laden didnt dare blow themself up…I am quite sure that Farouk, if he truly still has his mind intact on that Xmas day wasnt trying to blow himself up.
T
also on a lighter note, the Al Queda will surely think twice about recruiting a Nigerian to carry out their deeds as the first they used botched the job!!….I wonder what kind of God requires his followers to fight for him…hasn’t any of the recruits asked why the leaders dont go ahead and commit suicide themselves or send their own children first since the sacrifice is a one way ticket to heaven….keep up the good work Seye.
My Opinions
@ Tinuola: I don’t think you should go there i.e. asking about fighting for God. I’m apt to believe that most, if not every religion has fought some wars which they considered holy and they either believed they were fighting for God, with Him or as His instrument. I could go on and say many other things about that but let this suffice. You may want to make your statement more contextually.
What exactly is the issue here? The fact that there was an attempted bombing or that it was of the suicide variety? You think these guys care much about the dying part? What I think is important to them is that the killing takes place for they claim to be at war – a holy one at that. If it requires suicide, so be it! It’s an added benefit. When you fight a war, you try to live to fight again. You know you may die fighting and sometimes plan to die if it will cause more damage than your remaining alive. When the plan is to die, it doesn’t matter much if you face it courageously or with fear or in fact, if you develop cold feet. In this type of killing, what matters is that you are willing up till the point where one of the above three happens. Usually, they plan fail-proof mechanisms for the cold feet guys. Even in conventional warfare, there are pawns and officers. It may therefore be wrong to expect Osama to blow himself up any more than you would the American generals to take active part in the fighting. War is about strategy. Suicide probably makes the target more easily infiltrated and is useful only when the pawns are many. I’m sure other methods have been used in Afghanistan in recent times.
As to the typicality of Umar’s actions, I would say many things in Nigeria are no longer typical and would therefore support Seye in my not being surprised. The difference I see between Umar’s ‘work’ and those that have been typical of Nigeria is that his involved suicide. Also, he used the sophistication of bombing which I must remind you is becoming typical in Nigeria. Remember Dele Giwa and also, the bombing of a former military administrator of Lagos’ convoy. The similarity was killing other people as part of a fundamentalist agenda. The suicide part was inculcated during his ‘frolics’ with foreign fundamentalists. Now suicide and attempted suicide in Nigeria is mainly by hanging, ingestion of caustic material etc. You wait till handguns become common place in Nigeria and people would start to blow their brains out. As a result of our exposure to western entertainment, slitting of wrists is showing up even in our home videos. I will expatiate further on this exposure later.
Would it be wrong to describe the killings in northern Nigeria as terrorism even though the dictionary indicates political purposes as the basis for terrorism’s definition? The local fundamentalists who are northerners and are Muslims and the victims who are usually Christians from other parts of the country. The fundamentalists who are Arabians and are Muslims and the West which is predominantly Christian. Same scenario. We just may be unable to see beyond religion, a political basis in the local setting as we clearly see internationally. The Niger-Delta situation may also be well labeled terrorism because of the obvious political undertones – one which many sympathize with because of the cause of the militants. Contrary to Laolu’s allusion, the use of suicide is not defining for terrorism neither is the absence of cowardice. (Believe me; it requires some nerve to take the life of another human even if you are yourself afraid of dying.) We can then say that while Umar may be our first international terrorist, he isn’t our first terrorist. These were Seye’s words:
“I don’t think that Umar did what he is alleged to have done simply because he is from a rich, privileged family or from northern Nigeria. He simply had good access to radicalising influences, or is it the other way round?”
You would have to agree with him and also with the fact that his being Muslim may not have been totally responsible. If he was not Muslim though, would he have had good access to the particular radicalizing influences that changed him or would they have had access to him? He might have joined MEND if he was from the Delta. The reality is that whether rich or poor, educated abroad or ‘aboard’ (or even uneducated), northern, western or eastern Nigerian, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew or atheist etc, once you have access to these influences or vice versa as Seye portrays in his ‘the other way round’, you can become fundamentalist!
I would say a terrorist nation is one in which the leadership actively or passively shields terrorists or supports their agenda. Nigeria is not a terrorist nation. I would have to research to be able to categorize Yemen in this regard. We however know there are countries that qualify. Nigerians are no more terrorists than Americans are serial killers. We however have terrorists who are Nigerians and now, an international terrorist.
This brings me to Laolu’s point on Umar’s act being alien to our culture. What act? The attempted bombing, the attempted suicide to achieve the bombing or the attempt to kill innocents in response to a demand of his own faith? I say ‘his own’ because obviously, he does not share the same beliefs with many other Muslims. Also, what culture? The one we had before Islam and Christianity came into our land or the one we have now seamlessly (maybe not so seamlessly) blended with the cultures of the nations that exposed us to these religions. The search for globalization would make things alien to a culture eventually become typical.
The courage that many of these people exhibit in these condemned and dastardly acts, descriptions that previous commentators have used for Umar’s – and I agree with them – is a courage that is likely only to be dreamed of by most of us; even we who dare to comment. Imagine blowing yourself up or setting yourself ablaze. Surely such death must be painful. Surely, such people had lives and had hopes for the future. Many had families. Contrary to Olumide Aladesuru’s assertion, many are like Umar, having education, jobs etc. I dare say that if by any chance the religions we profess and attempt to practice asked us to kill and maybe die doing so; few would fall into the categories I mentioned above. Of these few, most would develop cold feet. The rest of us would only wish we could while still paying lip service to our faith. We often fail even in the less daring things demanded by these religions. I would not even dare talk about issues that are less fundamental than faith to humanity as it is. Issues such as the fight for human rights and for sanity in our polity. Ken Saro Wiwa, Gani Fawehinmi, Wole Soyinka and others. Why an Iran would fight tyranny and a Nigeria would remain resilient in our now usual – or should I rather say typical? – ‘sit-and –stare’ or ‘suffering-and-smiling’ fashion. Maybe I should leave that for some other place.
When we teach our children to live and die for what they believe as Umar’s father must have taught him, are we telling them the whole truth? Do we also tell them the point at which the beliefs become irrational? Are we able to control all their influences even when they are right under our noses? Laolu mentioned Umar’s obtaining education distant from his basic roots and culture. Was the girl that was married off in OAU without her parents’ knowledge that far away from these things? You might argue that people of every race and creed elope. How about the guys that were hurling stones at the beauty pageant folks (I witnessed this one) and other OAU events mentioned? Every parent would offer their child the best they can afford whether they are covertly or overtly responsible, or not at all responsible for such best being unavailable in their own country. Many fathers would not have enough courage to turn in their own son. Umar’s father did. He may have had faults and failures as a father but we may not be able to point to any from what we currently know.
Finally, fundamentalism is not new to our planet. It has worn many faces in history – Christianity and Communism are two of the others that I can think of right now. Unfortunately, it now mostly wears Islam. Take note! I haven’t said it is Islam! What face would it wear in future? Seye again:
“I once had a ‘friend’, a Nigerian who told me that he would kill me in the event of a holy war! He wasn’t joking.”
Seye, I must applaud you for writing posts that beget much longer responses. Please can you help us to write to our missing President?
@Owagbemi, na God put word for your mouth they talk am go.
On the criminal in question, he has pleaded ‘not guilty’. Which of you liberal sound-thinking people have a right to think he would not keep enjoying a better standard of life, than the innocent ones of Haiti?
Good written post. This is very informative information for us. Thank you for sharing.